• T 7 “ ) ; .N « ''' Guinea (CMoy aw? Gaimard, Wallace, von Bosenherg), WaiaìoVL (Wallace).
Mysol {Mallacé), Ceram (Mus Lugd.), A m Islands (FVallace).
_ F o r th e discovery o f th is b e au tifu l Kingfisher science is indebted to MM. Quoy aud
Gaimard th e N a tu ra lis ts atta ch ed to th e “ Uranie and P hysicienne” in th e ir voyage ro u n d
th e world.^ I n th e “ Zoologìe” o f th e above-mentioned voyage we find the following note.
“ Th is species, to which Ave have g iven the name o f o u r friend and colleague, the
B o tan is t attach ed to this expedition, in h ab its th e Avoods o f the P ap u an Inlands; th e ab o rig
ines call i t înan(/ro<7(MZi? and manlcinetrous ; th e in h ab itan ts o f Guébé call i t salba, these
b eing th e names employed b y th e islanders for a ll Kingfishers. I t is n o t shy and is easily
approached. The m d ividuals th a t we killed had th e ir beaks s till covered Avith th e earth
in Avhich th ey h ad j u s t been d ig g in g to procure th e ir food.”
A tolerable figure o f one o f the type specimens is g iven in th e “ Atlas” o f th e voyao-e
Avhich is reproduced by P ro f. Reichenbach in his “ Han d b u ch ,” b u t i t gives no idea o f the
e x treme b e au ty o f th e b ird , which is one o f th e handsomest Kingfishers in existence.
The ex e rtio n s of Mr. Wallace revealed m any new facts concerning th e geographical
d istrib u tio n o f tlie p re se n t species, as Avill be seen by a reference to th e lis t o f localities
g iven above.
I am indebted to his kindness for the folloAviug note.
“ T h is fine species AA"as n o t uncommon in SAvampy ju n g le , Avliere its curious loud
b a rk in g was often h e ard , and Avas sometimes mistaken for a dog. I t feeds on crustácea,
mollusca and m yriapoda which i t picks u p off th e g round. I a t firs t took th e blue and
broAvn-tailed forms for d istin c t species and have a note to th e former “ sexes a lik e ;” b u t
have u n fo rtu n a te ly n o t k e p t a b lu e-tailed female, as 1 afterwards came to th e conclusion
th a t th e difference was sex u al.”
HeiT G. von Rosenberg remarks as follows, in liis “ Be itrag zu r Ornithologie A'on
Neu -Gu in e a ” {Lc.) A remarkable appearance is observed in tliis species as in
Chalcoqmtta leucopggiaiis ; th ere e x ist, namely, tAvo constant va rie ties o f it, one w ith a
roddish-broAvn, th e o th e r Avith a blue tail, b u t otherwise coloured alike. The la tte r varie ty
is th e ra re s t. I t lives in a ll th e o th e r islands belonging to New Guinea, and is by no
means uncommon.”
Mr. WaUace, h av in g carefully sexed his specimens, enables u s to determine Avith certa
in ty th a t th e b ird s w ith th e b rown ish -red ta l l a r e th e females, b u t I th in k th a t the red tail
is n o t assumed a t once, b u t gradually. My friend Dr. T . Salvadori o f T u rin , Avho has
tak en a g re a t in te res t in th e p resen t work, late ly forAvarded me a lis t o f specimens of
Kingfishers contained in th e Zoological Museum o f th a t city, and in h is remarks upo n the
p resen t species, he m entions th a t th ey possess one specimen only a t T u r in from the A ru
Islands, " c a u d â nifo-castaneâ, rectrice unâ tantum cyaneÂ." Dr. Sah’adori does n o t tell me
from Avhom th e specimen AA'as procured, b u t i t is labelled a male. The accuracy o f this
d e te rm in a tio n I m u st call in question, in the face o f th e evidence b ro u g h t b y Mr. Wallace,
b u t Dr. Salvadori’s remarks a re n o t the less in te re s tin g as shewing th a t th e red ta il is not
d ire c tly assumed. Moreover, th e o riginal describers {l.c) sta te th a t “ tAvo o th er individuals,
coming from th e same localities p resen t some s lig h t differences ; th e ta il o f one has no
black a t th e ex trem ity and th a t o f the o th e r is red u n d e rn eath , a shade o f colour, Avhich
in th e case o f th e la tte r is p robably due to age ; for su n d iy blue spots seem to indicate th a t
in tim e th is p a rt o f the b ird s plumage Avill become en tirely o f th is same colour.”
The fine p a ir rep resen ted in th e accompanying p late Avere procured b y Mr. Wallace.
T h e male, in liis collection, is from Waigiou : the female, in my oAvn collection, was
obtained in Ngav' Guinea.
I